


The Humbling River

by Akoia



Category: Naruto
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Murder, Non-Graphic Torture, Root - Freeform, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:16:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19979155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akoia/pseuds/Akoia
Summary: Those In Root, have no name. No feelings. You have no past and no future. There is only the mission."A child is born to their most loyal and their least, thrown into the dark underbelly of the shinobi world. Unable to feel emotions or want. She was born to be a tool for those above her.





	1. She

_‘Am I on drugs?’_ Were the first thoughts out of her mind. After being pushed through a dark cavern and into a blinding light. _‘No, I’ve gotta be on drugs.’_ And it really did make sense, that someone had slipped something into her food at the Wendy’s drive through. The blurry giant looking at her seemed too... _inhuman_ to be anything _other than_ a drug induced hallucination. She tried to move her hands up to her eyes, and rub at her face, but found that she couldn’t, her arms refusing to cooperate with her. When she was brought up closer to the giant, she saw him grinning dangerously at her when he got close enough to her face. 

It had been about three hours, since she was pushed out of the dark, and she’d spent quite a lot of it, screaming and crying. She honest to god above couldn’t control it. But now that she’d quieted down she was being passed around by two strangers. The inhuman giant handed her over to a more human looking giant, who held her with little care. The inhuman giant spoke to the other in quiet tones, smooth and yet still all together dangerous. Like a snake. She suddenly realized that the giant _looked_ like a snake. Then she realized she couldn’t understand what either of them were saying. It sounded like Japanese, but she couldn’t be sure. They spoke to quickly for her to understand. 

“Boku wa Sonoko o Danzo-sama ni tsurete ikimasu,” the other stranger said, shifting her in his arms, so her head was supported. “Kanojo wa watashitachi no mura no ōkina zaisan ni naru koto ga dekimasu

The snake giant smiled, a light chuckle leaving his lips. He turned away from her and the other giant. “Boku wa jikken no seika o miru koto o tanoshiminishiteimasu,” he tossed over his shoulder before he disappeared. 

She wasn’t expecting it and when the giant was gone in a puff of smoke, she instantly started screaming and crying again. The other giant looking down at her hummed and placed a hand over her mouth and nose. She started to feel panic when it became harder and harder to breathe. He took his hand away from her face and hid her under his cloak, and disappeared into the night. 

* * *

She didn’t realize that she was not in fact on a drug trip about a month later. She’d caught sight of herself in a reflective metal surface, and came face to face with an infant. Pale skin, almost white. Midnight back hair. And possibly most striking of all, bright yellow eyes. The image sent her into another bout of screaming. Everything was _terrifying_ when she couldn't even stand of her own. And when she screamed, her caretaker would check over her, to make sure she didn’t need a change, and if she didn’t, he’d go back to ignoring her. She could scream herself horse and still no one would give her any affection. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered someone else who would rush to her aid when she cried, back when she had red hair instead of black. 

* * *

It was at about nine months that her caretaker grabbed her by the hand and stood her up on her feet. She looked up at him curiously, his emotionless face the only true constant in her life. His hair was dark blue, his skin was gray-like he hadn’t seen the sun in years-his eyes were a dark shade of brown that almost looked black. 

She supposed that this man must be her father. But he wasn’t affectionate with her. Not _remotely._ He was never cruel to her, and never ignored her when she needed a changing, a bath, or a feeding, but otherwise he treated her like a houseplant. He spoke to her, often, pointing out words in a book. She had said her first word at seven months (senbon) and instead of reacting like she thought a father should have, he just looked at her and nodded. 

But now it seemed that it was time for her to learn how to walk. “Stand,” he ordered her, letting go of her hands. She struggled to keep herself upright, having never stood in that body before. She reached out and balanced herself against a cold wall, that her crib was pushed against. He grabbed her by the back of her black shirt and pulled her away from the wall, steadying her before letting go again. “Stand,” he said again. She couldn’t, falling onto her backside. She knew better by that point not to cry. He looked down at her for a few seconds. She thought...maybe _hoped_ that he would be annoyed with her. But he wasn’t. His face didn’t change at all. He reached back down and stood her up. “Stand.” It took her two weeks to learn how to walk clumsily from one end of the room to the other. She looked back at him when she did it, and for the first time, in her life there she saw him smile at her. It was gone before she could even confirm that he _had_ smiled at her.

* * *

She was a year and six months old when he started teaching her to read easy words. They sat at a desk together and he pointed at kanji with his finger, looking at her expectantly. “Dog,” she said obediently. He nodded and pointed to the next word. “Name.” She paused for a second and looked up at him. “What’s my name?” She asked him. 

“You don’t have one,” he said coldly. “You will be assigned a code name eventually.” 

“Your name?” She asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“Kinoto.” He turned the page and pointed to the next word. 

“I don’t know that one.” 

“Chakra.” 

She tilted her head to the side. “What is Chakra?” She asked him. 

“Chakra is the energy that all living creatures need. There is Chakra inside of everything. You, me, trees, grass, even animals. It’s also what we use to preform our jutsu.” 

“Oh…” She looked back at the book and pointed to the next word. “Shinobi.” 

“Correct. Do you know what a shinobi is?” 

“A boy ninja,” she answered. “You’re one, aren’t you?” 

“Yes.” He looked down at her from the book. “When you prove yourself to Danzo-sama, you will be a Kunoichi.” 

“Why?” 

“So you can be a tool to protect the village.”

* * *

She must have been about a year and eleven months when a new comer came into her room along with her caretaker. He was an old man who was missing an eye. But otherwise, he was rather unremarkable. But she knew better than to underestimate him, as something about him just radiated danger. Like the giant snake from before. She looked at him, trying to mirror the expression her caretaker always showed her, thought she was sure some of her curiosity must have shown in her eyes. 

“Good afternoon, child,” he said, not bothering to even fake a smile. 

“Hello,” she echoed back, lowering her head. She looked over to her caretaker who nodded silently. 

Her caretaker was standing behind the new man, seeming to be oddly stiff. The new man reached down and turned up her chin, turning her head from side to side. “You bare a striking resemblance to your father, child.” His hand lowered and grabbed at her neck, though there was no pressure cutting off her air flow, so she tried to keep herself from reacting. “But unlike your father, you will always be loyal to Konoha, won’t you?” He asked her, thought he didn’t seem to really be waiting for her response. 

She nodded anyways. “Kinoto told me that I am a tool, to protect the village.” 

“You are a tool,” he confirmed, the hint of a smirk appearing. “You are _my_ tool. Your father was an exceptional shinobi. His research was invaluable to the future of Konoha. But he abandoned the village and betrayed us. Though...I had been expecting it since he was passed up for Hokage. _You_ will be just as exceptional as he was. So spend your life shaping yourself into the perfect weapon to be used for the benefit of Konoha.” 

_And me_ was left unsaid. 

He let go of her and turned around, looking at her caretaker. “Have her ready to be put in the training program within two years.” 

He caretaker bowed, and waited for the man to exit before following him out. He cast her a look, and she thought she could see his frown through his white and red mask.

* * *

She was two years old when Kinoto took her outside her room for the first time. The hard tiles of the ground were cold on her feet, so she pressed closely to his side, to avoid the strange things she saw around her. He took her into another room, and locked the door behind him. He had a blade in his hand, and he held it out to her. “Today begins your real training,” Kinoto said. “Come at me with the intention to kill.” 

“But I don’t want to kill you,” she said, tilting her head to the side.

“Then I’ll kill you,” he said simply. “Root has no use for a tool that won’t fight back.” And then he rushed at her. He must have been holding back, because she could still see him. She thought that maybe he wasn’t serious, and then he kneed her in the stomach, and sent her flying against the wall. She gasped in pain, but managed to scramble to her feet before he decided to hit her again. This time, she lashed out with the knife (the word written on the side was kunai) and cut him on the hand. He stood there for a moment, before nodding in approval. “This time...no more holding back.” 

She was three years old when she was brave enough to ask about her father. “Who was he, Kinoto?” She asked, sitting on a bench in the training room, drinking from a bottle of water. “Danzo-sama said that he was an exceptional shinobi.” 

He looked at her in the curious blank way that he had, where she couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or just processing an answer for her. As the seconds ticked by, she started to think that he wasn’t going to say anything at all. “Your father...he could never accept the way of the Root shinobi. Your father was called legendary, and was bestowed the title of Sannin. He was one of Danzo-sama’s most promising agents, before he left the village the night you were born. Your father is a traitor. Nothing else matters.” 

“What about my mother?” She asked, trying not to let the answer annoy her. 

“Your mother was loyal to Danzo-sama. She understood the way of the Root.” 

“And…” She took another drink of water. “What is the way of the Root ninja?” She asked. 

“In Root, we have no name. No feelings. You have no past and no future. There is only the mission.” He said it, like he had repeated it a thousand times over. “Your mother fulfilled that and brought you into the world with your father. Though, on the day you were born, your mother died. Your father called you...his experiment. But no one is sure what was done to you in utero.” 

“And you all want me to be like my mother, not my father?” 

“That is correct. You _will_ follow the principles of Root, and become a tool for Danzo-sama.”


	2. Shichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy! Comments and kudos are always nice!

She was nervous. Not that she would-or could- say that out loud where Kinoto could hear her. He wasn’t holding her hand this time, and hadn’t in quite awhile, now that she could walk and run without thinking about it. But this time his distance from her was obvious in the way he held his arms behind his back and how he wouldn't remove his mask. He was leading her through hallways of the headquarters that she’d never seen before outside of her little room. And at the end of these hallways was another door that looked all the rest. He put his hand on it, and slowly slid it open. 

Inside there were nine children and a single man standing at the front who all turned and looked at her. She stood stiffly, trying to keep her face blank. Most of the children looked as if they were at least a few years older than her, they were all at the least five or six. None of them quite had expressions that could be described as ‘curious’ as their faces were just as blank as hers tried to be. But they at least seemed to recognize that what was happening was out of the norm. 

“Come in,” the man at the front said. She took a few steps forward, and looked up at Kinoto who gestured with his chin towards the front of the room. She went up and stood in front of the chalkboard. The instructor stood beside her, arms tucked behind his back. “This is the newest member of our organization.” Then he looked to her, waiting. She already knew that she was supposed to bow when she met new people, Kinoto taught her, so she did. 

“Sit there.” He pointed her towards the back, where another girl was sitting. She was blond and had blue eyes. She seemed very out of place compared with the rest of the class who were all mostly colored in muted greens, browns, and blacks. She was also trying to calm her twitching hands. 

When she sat down, the new girl waved at her nervously. The action caught her so off guard that she stopped and blinked, before turning towards the teacher who had taken back his position at the front of the room. She folded her hands in front of each other on her desk, lacing her fingers together. She looked over towards the door, but Kinoto was already gone. 

“Class, today we will be learning about forming Chakra,” the teacher said. “All of us possess a chakra nature. Fire, Earth, Water, Air, or Lightening. However, there are some strong shinobi who are able to form their Chakra into other elements. So, I will be handing out  _ this  _ paper,” he held up a small square of paper. “You will channel your Chakra into this paper so we can determine your natures.” He placed the stacks of paper on the desks of the children sitting in front, who dutifully handed them back to the second row. 

The teacher held his own paper in his hand and it burst into flame and turned to ash. No one in the class room except for the blond girl even reacted. She squeaked and covered her mouth with bother her hands. The teacher cast the blond girl a dark look and she lowered her head, looking down at her hands that were still shaking. 

She held her own piece of paper. Kinoto had never taught her how to channel Chakra. She guessed that this was one of those ‘sink or swim’ things he was always talking about. It actually wasn’t that hard. She could more or less feel that the paper was trying to soak up her Chakra like a sponge. She just closed her eyes and let it. It was strange, feeling something in your body being leached out of you. Something that had once always been a part of you. But it didn’t hurt, so she decided that meant nothing was wrong. It took a few seconds longer than the other children, but her paper eventually reacted, turning soggy in her hands. There was one other child in the class who had a water type Chakra. 

Their teacher went around the room, making a little note on a clip board, looking over each student's work. When he got to her, he looked at it with a critical eye before turning to stare at her face. When he was finished, he stepped back up to the front of the room and put the clipboard into a drawer. He resumed his position of hands behind his back. “Stand, one at a time, and list your number in line. That will be your official code name until further notice.” And she was seventh in line, so when there was a piece of paper laid down in front of her, she signed it  Shichi. 

“In front of you is a test of twenty-five questions about the technicalities of shinobi life. You have twenty minutes. Begin.” 

She flipped over her test and looked down, realizing that it was multiple choice, but that she had no idea what the answers were. Or what they even  _ could  _ be. She looked blankly at her page, trying not to give away the fact that she knew nothing. She looked through them, there just  _ had to  _ be some kind of code. But no. Just simple questions about the village. Kinoto hadn’t taught her about any of that. At all. So she answered two a minute, and yet still wound up being the last one to finish. The teacher looked over her paper and then laid it down on the desk. 

“We will be moving into the sparring room,” the teacher said. “Your sparring partner will be determined by the scores of your tests. The one with the highest score will be paired with the lowest score. So on and so forth.” 

The class stood as one, and bowed in practiced movement. She tried to keep pace with her new classmates, but still managed to be out of beat. She lined up with them, with the assistance of the blond girl, and followed two by two out the door towards the sparring room. It was just a large circular room across the hall. 

The teacher followed behind them a few minutes latter. He wasted no time, looking down at his list. “Ni and Shi, Ichi and Shichi, San and Go, Rokuu and Juu, Hachi and Kyuu. Pair off and begin your spar.” 

Shichi looked at Ichi, a young boy who looked like he could be her brother. He had the same paper white skin and dark inky black hair. But his eyes were the same black as his hair. He was about seven years old, and his pudgy face would have been cute if it wasn’t for the ice cold look he gave her. 

The teacher put a whistle up to his lips and blew loudly, raising his left arm. Ichi rushed at her and punched her hard in the stomach. Shichi gasped, stumbling backwards. Ichi didn’t let up, following up with a punch to the shoulder, then swept her legs out from under her and knocking her down to the ground. 

The teacher didn’t stop the fight, he didn’t even seem to register that she was on her back. Ichi looked to the instructor, but when no orders were issued, he continued to attack her. She flung her legs up, managing to catch him in the chin, making him stumble backwards. Shichi jumped back to her feet, not wanting Ichi to get the upper hand again. This suddenly felt less like a spar and more like a fight for her life. And while Ichi hit hard, he didn’t hit nearly as hard as Kinoto could. 

Shichi rushed at Ichi, and jabbed him in the solar plexus, just like Kinoto had taught her. He sucked in a breath, eyes momentarily widening when he found himself struggling to breathe. She took advantage and spun around, kicking him in the chin. He flipped backward, using his hand to launch himself into the air. Shichi couldn’t reach him, so she ran to the side to avoid the powerful kick he was aiming at the top of her head. 

He grabbed her ankle when she went for another kick to the stomach, and swung her off balance. She had enough time to throw he arms over her head, before he started to rain punches down upon her. She thought she felt the bone in her forearm crack. Eventually the whistle blew and Ichi removed himself immediately, standing in line with the others. 

“Shichi!” The instructor yelled from the front of the room. “Stand with the others!” He ordered. Shichi put her good arm down on the ground, and slowly pushed herself up, on trembling legs. She fell back in line, holding her arm. “Ni, take her to the infirmary. Then return to the classroom.” 

“Yes, sensei,” one of the older girls said. She didn’t give Shichi any indications to follow her, and just walked towards he door, so Shichi just followed, running after her quickly. Before she left, she noticed that the instructor hadn’t even congratulated the children who had won their spars. 

* * *

The usual doctor was out, and in his place was a thirteen year old boy, with glasses, and light gray hair. When she'd come in, the first thing he'd had her do was sit up on the table, and he ran his green hands around her body, hovering over her skin. “My arm,” she said, when he didn’t seem to be focusing on anything in particular. 

“I am aware,” he said, continuing his examination. He opened a little notebook and quickly wrote something down. “Now, hold out your injury.” 

“What did you do?” She asked. 

He hesitated for a moment, and she saw it flash behind his eyes, before he pulled his hand back and slapped her across the face. He looked between her and his hand, before tucking it behind his back. “It is not your place to question a superior,” he said, letting a hard edge enter his voice. His voice still cracked. 

“Yes, of course,” she said ducking her head. “Please forgive me.” 

He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yes...well...I suppose this once I will. You may call me Kabuto-senpai.” 

“Are-” she cut herself off before she could bring herself to ask her question. “Yes Kabuto-senpai.” When she looked back up at the young doctor, he seemed pleased. He wasn’t very good at hiding his emotions. Not like the others were. Not like  _ she  _ was. Maybe he was like her father, and wasn’t able to follow the way of Root. Maybe Kabuto-senpai would be a traitor one day, like her father. 

He lowered his hands onto her arm, and she could feel the healing energy working into her skin, then into her muscles and fat, then finally into the broken bone. It slowly started to grow back into the proper position, leaving her feeling good as new. She looked down at her arm, careful to keep her face blank.

“Medical Ninjutsu,” Kabuto-senpai said when he caught her looking. “Maybe if you have good enough chakra control, you could learn how to do that too.” 

She wondered if the reverse was true. Could she use medical ninjutsu to touch someone’s arm and snap their bone in half. Maybe cause it to grow so quickly, there wasn’t enough room inside the arm. Bursting through all those other layers of skin and muscles and fat. She said nothing to the other boy as she hopped down from the exam table. 

“I need to go back to the classroom,” she said. 

“Alright then!” He gave her another smile and a jaunty little wave as she went. 

The classroom was already empty by the time she got back. The instructor was leaning against the desk in the front with a stack of books beside him. When he saw her enter, he didn’t react. “We meet here every other day. We meet in the sparring room everyday. I expect you to train on your own in your free time. When you are not training you will be reading these books.” He laid his hand on top of them. “You will have these texts memorized in one month’s time.” 

“Will that help me be a tool for Danzo-sama?” She asked. “To ensure the future of the village?” 

“Yes,” he answered shortly. “You are dismissed.” 


	3. The Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!

There was another test. Shichi felt her hand twitch, holding the pencil tightly in her left hand. She was the only one who used her left hand, out of every child in the class. And their teacher had already remarked on it several times. A deviation. Unacceptable. If she didn’t pass this test above average she’d be made an example of. She shifted in her chair, the feeling of the whip marks still somewhat fresh on her skin. 

Her chair squeaked and as one the entire class turned to look at her, blank eyes betraying nothing. The teacher looked up from his desk and slowly stood up. Shichi straightened her back and laced her fingers in front of her. The instructor had the metal ruler in his hands. “Do you think it’s acceptable to be a distraction in this class?” He asked. 

“No, Daichi-sensei,” she answered instantly. 

“Hands out in front of you,” he said. She did as she was told, reaching out and grabbing the desk. She tried not to flinch when he brought the ruler down onto her knuckles. “You will not make a sound.” He smacked her again. “You will take your test.” Again. “You will pass without any mistakes or there will be consequences.” Again. He tucked the ruler behind his back, and stood by her. 

Her knuckles were bleeding, but she picked up her pencil and focused on her test. It was difficult. All of their tests were. Her hands hurt but she knew that if she tried to sooth herself he’d hit her again. He was standing over her, looking towards the chalkboard, but she knew that he’d catch even the smallest of movements. 

She finished last, making sure that she double checked every answer. He took her paper off her desk, and his eyes quickly flicking through her answers. He slowly looked down at her. “Acceptable,” he said, before continuing forward, collecting the papers from the front of the room. He stood at the front. “Stand,” he ordered them all. They all did, and bowed before he dismissed them to lunch. 

One might have expected a room of ten children under twelve would have been loud. But it wasn’t. The other classes that joined them were also silent as the grave. They all sat and waited until the superiors came around and handed them food pills, water, and rice. Eventually they’d be weened off the rice and survive of the food pills and water alone. It had all the nutrients that the body needed to live. 

They all ate quietly with a practiced precision. Almost every bite taken at the same time. 

“This is ridiculous!” Go shouted, slamming her hands down on the table, her blond hair falling out of her careful braid. There were already two superiors walking towards her in an unhurried pace. “You can’t treat us like this! We’re human beings!” She climbed up on the table. “Stand up! Do something! You absentminded nitwits!” 

Oh, she was going to die. Shichi was sure of it. Go had been a problem for quite awhile but this would be the last straw. She screamed, when one of the superiors grabbed her by the arm. He pulled back his fist and punched her in the face, and she fell back into his arms. He threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room. No one had even paused in their eating. 

* * *

She was bound, hands behind her back, kneeling on the ground of the training hall. The rest of the class stood around her. Daichi-sensei walked into the room. “One of you will need to proove yourself today,” he said, slowly pulling out a sword, running his finger along the edge. He looked around the room. “Today, one of you will execute a traitor.” 

Go was crying. Shichi had never seen another human being cry before. It was kind of annoying. Go should have known what was going to happen. Deviation was unacceptable. So was disruption. Disloyalty, however, was a death sentence. 

Daichi-sensei held the sword out to Shichi, who held it in her left hand, face twitching with the new weight. “You will kill her. Proove that you’re worthy to continue in this training program. Or join her.” 

She didn’t want to be dead. Not now, not when she hadn’t become an exceptional tool. Not if it meant that her purpose for existing had all been a waste. She took the sword and walked towards Go. The blond girl looked up at her, pleading in her eyes. Shichi wondered why her throat was so dry. She raised the sword and brought it down as hard as she could, slicing deep into the girl’s throat. 

Shichi took a step back, watching the blood pool on the ground while the girl twitched, gasping for breath as she drowned in her own blood. It was soaking into Shichi’s shoes. It smelled like coins. Disgusting. 

She looked back at Daichi-sensei who nodded. “Good. Now dispose of the body,” he ordered. “Training will resume in thirty minutes.” He ordered the other children to file out, leaving Shichi alone with a mop and a body bag that had been left in the corner of the room. 

* * *

When she was five, she was moved to the communal living space that was shared with the other children. There were no personal affects, no laughter, no conversation. They moved together, almost as if they were one mind. Or puppets. 

They were effective, swift, and dangerous. Dachi-sensei said that Shichi and her classmates were the most promising students of their generation. They were also the most long lasting, having kept nine out of ten students, a record number. Most classes had at least four casualties. Maybe Go had saved many of the students, with her outburst, serving as an example of what disobedience would lead too. 

By then, they had been switched to the food pills. No one really minded. The rice didn’t taste like anything, and for those that had been raised since birth, there wasn’t anything else to compare it too. 

Their routine was the same every day. Five in the morning, wake up and clean off. Six o’clock be in the dinning hall. Seven to twelve, training. From twelve to four they had class. Then at five to six they would go back to the mess hall. Eight was lights out. Then they’d start it all over again in the morning. 

It was on one of these mornings that Shichi sat awake thinking. She didn’t usually do that. Thinking was for the superiors who went on missions. Thinking could lead to disloyalty. But she thought all the same. Wasn’t there a quote about something like that, from when she had red hair? 

She thought about her classmates, mostly. They were all strong, most of them stronger than her. She’d seen the other students from other classes pitted against each other, when two useless tools battled for the right to live. Everyone would gather to watch them fight to the death. Blood splattered all over the ground. Sometimes, the weaker children would break. Screaming and crying when they saw what’s they’d done. Or, they’d beg for their lives from their opponents on their knees. Whenever a victor would hesitate, the superiors would execute them both. It was very apparent that there was no room for weakness within Root. 

Was she weak? Daichi-sensei was a lot harder on her than he was on the others. He watched her every move, ready to pounce on and punish her for any mistake. She didn’t make many anymore. Mostly on written tests, where she’d be beaten with the metal ruler, but otherwise she was a model student. The superb example of a girl well on her way to becoming a useful tool. 


	4. Outside

She trained tirelessly before they decided that she was ready to take on her first assignment. She stood in front of Ichi, who was to be her partner and superior officer. He’d already gotten his headband and taken the Chunin exams that summer, and passed. He was ten, so he was three years ahead of schedule, he was considered one of the successes. And if they were sending her on a mission, that meant they thought she was one too. Right? 

She had long stopped feeling, but if she still did, perhaps she would be happy that they had such high hopes for her. That she was well on her way to becoming an exceptional tool for Danzo-sama. So she would succeed at this mission and proove herself. 

“We’re going to kill someone. You’ll make the final strike,” Ichi told her, faking a smile, that she’d learned to mirror. “Will this be your first kill?” He asked. 

_ No. But he knew that already, so why was he asking? He’d seen her, watched her kill many of the others.  _ She shook her head. “No, Ichi-senpai.” She tilted her head to the side. “I’m sure that this will be an easy mission.” 

“Do not underestimate our opponent, Shichi-chan. Or you’ll fail Root.” 

_ Or you’ll die.  _ Why didn’t that scare her anymore? When she had red hair, that thought would have sent her into a panic attack. But now...now. Nothing. She felt nothing. The thought of her disappearing forever into darkness didn’t even send a shiver down her spine. 

But if she died...then she would have failed to become an exceptional tool. And then what would have been the point of all of this? The training, the conditioning? The corrections that had left scars on her back? It would have been for nothing. 

Ichi and her were wearing identical clothes. Black pants that fell just past their knees. A black shirt that showed their midriffs and had one long sleeve, and one short sleeve. A tanto was strapped to their backs. A small amount of red accented the sword. They wore cloaks and blank white masks with two eyeholes. They looked like small black and white dolls. 

They met up with one of their superiors in their mission assignment room. Another place that Shichi had never been before. She couldn’t tell which of their superiors it was, because he was hidden behind a crow mask. He looked down at the two of them before handing Ichi a closed envelope. “Those in Root,” he said. 

“Have no name. No feelings,” Ichi followed instantly. 

“You have no past and no future,” Shichi continued. 

“There is only the mission,” they finished together. 

* * *

Their target, was simply called Akinari. A clanless Shinobi from Suna who had been poking around nearby villages in the Land of Fire, looking for his missing sister. Who had already been taken out and picked apart by Root’s medical experts. He was getting too close, Shichi and Ichi would head him off on the trail to the next peasant village and eliminate him. Then dispose of his body. 

We set out that day, with food pills and water. Ichi had her follow him through the winding hallways of the Root headquarters. He opened another door, and Shichi squinted, almost having to cover her face. She’d never been outside before, she realized. The exit of the base was out of a tree, appropriately enough, that put them outside the village. There was grass on the ground, and trees that reached high into the air. She wondered what dirt would feel like on her feet. Nothing like the metal flooring and cold tiles of the place she’d called home for six years. 

The moon was shining high in the sky, the stars twinkling above her. At one point, she knew she would have thought them pretty...but now...they were just the light to see by so she could complete her mission. Ichi jumped into the trees, then looked down at her, obviously waiting for her. She’d never tree jumped before, though she knew she had acceptable Chakra control. So she took a leap of faith, so to say. 

When she landed next to him, he turned and started to rapidly jump through the foliage, forcing her to pick up the pace considerably. She felt wind whipping through her hair and fresh air entering her lungs. It was pleasant, against the areas of bareskin not covered by the mask or cloak. Refreshing, was the word she was looking for. She let her mind wander for a moment, and almost missed the next branch, having to grab hold and swing herself back up. 

“Focus,” Ichi ordered her. “I will be reporting your misstep.” 

“Yes, Ichi-senpai,” she answered. And the two of them continued without incident. They set up a temporary basecamp in the branches of a tree. Shichi tucked her legs under her, letting the dip in the tree cradle her. She ate a food pill and took a drink of water. She looked over at Ichi, who watched the road intently. 

“Ichi-senpai?” She called up to him quietly. He didn’t look at her, but she was sure he was listening. “When is our target going to arrive?” She asked. 

“Between now and one week. We will wait here until we see him,” he answered. “Now be silent.” 

“Yes, Ichi-senpai.” 

As it turned out, it was three days before they saw their target approaching. He had wild green hair that spiked out at random angles. His skin was covered in dirt and blood, and it seemed that he’d already been fighting, from the patchwork bandages up his arm. 

“Now,” Ichi said, voice just above a whisper before the two of them jumped from the trees, and cut off the man’s path. The man looked down at them with wide eyes, before pulling a kunai out of his sleeve and lowering himself into a defensive stance. 

“What? They’re sending kids now?!” The man growled. “Who the hell are you people?! Why are you coming after me?” 

Shichi looked up at Ichi, who didn’t make a sound, instead reaching over his shoulder and pulling out his tanto from the sheath and holding it loosely in his hand. She mirrored him, pulling her own out and crouching down, touching the ground with her free right hand. 

The man moved before the two of them could communicate anything to each other. Ichi went high when the shinobi went low. Shichi wasn’t quite that lucky. The shinobi kicked her in the chest, throwing her back against a tree. Her head cracked against it painfully, but she rolled out of the way, right as the shinobi followed up with another attack. She jumped into the trees, trying to disappear behind the leaves. 

Ichi rushed the man, slicing him in the back with his tanto. The man screamed and tried to strike Ichi with his kunai. With each dodge and feint, Ichi was brining the man closer to where Shichi was hiding. He managed to dig his kunai into Ichi’s side, and pulled it up, causing a large gash to start bleeding. He stood directly underneath Shichi who pulled out her tanto and aimed down, jumping from the branches, and burying the sword into the man’s brain from the top of his head. He let out a few shudders before dropping to his knees. And finally falling over dead. 

Neither Shichi or Ichi knew any fire ninjutsu, so they were given tags that would ignite the body. Shichi laid it onto the man, and watched as he was engulfed in flames, and made sure that he was totally gone, nothing more than ash that would be blown away by the wind. Not even the metal remained. 

Then turned her attention to Ichi, who lay gasping on the ground, covering the wound with his hand. If Shichi stopped to treat Ichi in the middle of the forest someone might stumble on them. Then the mission would be a failure. So Ichi would have to wait until they were back in the base. She grabbed him by both arms and pulled him onto her back, before jumping into the trees. 

* * *

When she brought him back, to the base, there were superiors waiting for a report. One man came and took Ichi from her while she stayed to debrief them. “Mission was a success,” she said. “Target was eliminated and disposed of. Target appeared to be wounded beforehand, but Ichi-senpai and I did not wait to see if there was anyone fallowing behind him. We waited seventy-nine hours before target revealed himself.” 

“Well done,” a voice said, entering the hall. A voice she hadn’t heard in quite awhile. She turned, and bowed, as did the superiors. Danzo-sama walked in, his cain echoing around the room. “You are becoming quite an asset to us, which is why I have decided to give you a new assignment.” 

“Thank you, Danzo-sama,” she said, not straightening her back. “How may I be of service?” She asked. 

“In one month time, you will be accompanying a team of AMBU Black Ops on a mission to rescue one of the Konoha Shinobi who was captured by Kumo during the war. As a sign of  _ good faith,  _ as the Third said,” Danzo-sama huffed and spit on the ground. Shichi could see an emotion, one of the bad ones, cross his face but she wasn’t sure which one it was. “One of the Shinobi escorting this man is one of us. You will say these words when you get to the bridge. ‘ _ It looks like it’ll rain soon. Isn’t that bad luck?’”  _

“Yes, Danzo-sama,” she said with a bow. 

* * *

Kakashi wasn’t sure to make of this situation. He stood behind the Third Hokage, his Inu mask hiding his confusion. The Third had told him already that Danzo was going to put ‘one of his men’ on the team that Kakashi was leading. But he’d expected...well a  _ man.  _ Or a woman. Not a child. The masked creature was silent as the grave, which set his  _ teeth _ on edge. It hadn’t been that long ago when Danzo had ordered ‘his men’ to assassinate the Hokage. And he seriously was going to have to watch another one of those things? 

“Is this...your agent?” The Hokage asked, sounding hesitant. 

“Yes,” Danzo said. “Kuma-chan is one of the best. I thought that more work in the field would do her well.” He put a hand on her shoulder. 

Wasn’t Root supposed to have been dissolved? Or was she…? Kakashi didn’t know, and he didn’t like  _ not knowing  _ things. “Very well,” he said when the silence was starting to stretch on. “We will be leaving first light from the gates of the village. Do not be late.” 

“Yes, Inu-taichou,” she said, her voice as cold as ice. It sent a bit of a shiver down his spine. That wasn’t normal, right? He didn’t really have much experience with children. But that just... _ couldn’t  _ have been normal. 

“Well, we should get her ready for her mission then, shouldn’t we?” Danzo laid his hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the room, shutting the door behind them. 

Kakashi looked at the Third, who had his hands laced together, in a vice. “Kakashi...I want you to report to me every move that girl makes. Record every word that comes out of her mouth. I want to know what Danzo is up too.” 

“Yes sir,” Kakashi said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. 


	5. The Bridge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're doing well! Let me know wht you think of this chapter.

There were two others already waiting by the gates, though they were hidden. They identified themselves as Karasu-san and Usagi-san. Both were men, who sounded like they were in their late teens or early twenties. Yet there was no sign of their captain.

"So, who are you supposed to be?" Karasu-san asked, putting his hands in his pockets and leaning against a tree. Brown hair, smooth voice, tanned skin. Someone who often worked outside.

She would see the sun soon, for the first time. "I am Kuma," she answered quietly. What was she supposed to do with her hands? Would it seem strange to them if she copied their movements.

"How old are you, anyways?" Usagi-san asked. Red hair, high voice. Younger than wither Karasu or Inu. Tapping his foot impatiently. "Like...three?"

"Seven," she said.

He groaned and she could almost hear him rolling his eyes behind his mask. What was that emotion? "All these prodigies. Where do they even come from?" He waved his arms around and Karasu who was chuckling. That was a sound she had never heard. Usagi pointed a finger at her. "You should be playing with your friends, little girl."

She didn't react, instead, choosing to sit patiently on the tree branch as far up as she could go. Her legs dangled down.

Usagi huffed again.

"Where is Inu-taichou?" She asked when an hour passed without any sign of him.

"He'll be here in about two hours," Karasu-san said.

He was going to be late for a meeting he set up? Was this why Danzo-sama hated the Third and all loyal to him?

"So, you're about to go on your first big mission!" Usagi said, lifting his mask slightly so she could see that he was smiling at her. Why was he smiling? "How does that make ya feel?"

"I don't," she answered.

"Don't what?" Karasu-san asked.

"Feel. I don't feel. If you were shinobi worth your salt, you wouldn't either."

"Wha? HEY!" Usagi yelled, jumping up to her branch and getting in her face. "What did you just say you little shit?!"

Why was he so loud? No one she'd ever met before had been that loud. It was must quieter in the base. He was still in her face, pressing his mask against hers. "Shinobi shouldn't feel," she said. "We are tools, and tools do not feel. They are used."

He made a small gasp, as if his air caught in his mouth. He turned his mask and looked down at Karasu-san, who made a similar sound. "You don't...really think that, do you?"

"Of course I do," she said. "If I didn't mean it, then why would I have said it?"

There was no more conversation until Inu-taichou finally made an appearance. He seemed to sense the there was some kind of tension among the group, but didn't comment on it. They set off on the road without any further conversation.

Even though they were inefficient tools, Shichi...or Kuma for this mission, could tell that they were experienced shinobi. It was in the way they moved, how every sound made them twitch. They reminded her of the superiors. They were experienced too. And not nearly as loud.

Inu-taichou was very obviously much stronger than her. She thought she might be able to kill Usagi-san and run away from Karasu-san. But Inu-taichou was in a entire realm of his own. She wasn't even sure if the superiors could beat him in a head on fight. So she supposed she wouldn't try to fight him.

They traveled for twelve hours with minimal breaks, just a few minutes every few hours, before Inu-taichou raised his hand and they took a detour into a cave. "We'll rest here for the night. We'll make it to the meeting place." He pointed to Karasu. "You'll take first watch. Kuma-san, you'll take the watch afterwards."

"Yes, Inu-taichou." She made her way to the other side of the cave, sitting on her knees and pulling out her overnight scroll. Five food pills for the trip, a bottle of water, and a few extra weapons and exploding tags. She went over her gear a few more times, just to make sure that she was prepared. She took her tanto off her back and took her sharpener, making sure the edges were sharpened to a deadly edge. Then she ate a food pill and drank her water, then sealed everything back up, and sat looking directly ahead of her.

"Here," Karasu handed her a rice ball. But that wasn't allowed.

"I am unable to eat while on missions," she told him.

"Aw, come on kiddo," he said, resting his other hand against Kuma's hair, messing it up. "There's no need to be nervous. We'll look out for ya, and this is a relatively low risk mission."

"That is not what I was referring too. While on a mission, the body's natural functions are inconvenient. Food pills do not produce those functions. So I am only permitted to eat food pills."

He looked at her, an energy rolling off him, that she couldn't place. It was another one of the 'bad' emotions. "Are you telling me...you aren't allowed to take a shit on a mission?" He asked, his voice cracking.

"Yes, that is correct."

He looked back at Inu. "Yo?! What are they teaching these new kids?"

"Kuma-san wasn't trained with the other new recruits. She was trained under Danzo Shimura," Inu said, leaning against the cave wall.

"But I thought…" Karasu sighed and stopped talking, casting her another look before walking over to Usagi and sitting down, whispering among each other. Kuma paid them no mind, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

"You should get some sleep," Inu said when they were all settling down.

"The mission is not yet complete."

"Sleep. That's an order," he said with a hard edge to his voice.

She nodded her head and laid down on the cave floor. She heard Usagi sigh, and he threw a blanket over her. She didn't pull it closer around her body, but it did beat out the cold that had been seeping into her flesh. Her midriff was freezing, her cloak doing little to keep her warm. And against he better judgment, she felt herself slipping off into sleep

* * *

The mission objective was on the other side of the bridge. She didn't look great, but seemed to be unharmed. But which of the three standing on the bridge were Danzo-sama's agent? They started crossing, and Kuma's group followed at the same pace. When they all stood at the center of the bridge, Inu and one of the Kumo shinobi stepped almost toe to toe. The Kumo shinobi handed Inu the rope binding their fellow leaf ninja, and Inu handed over a black scroll.

Kuma held out her hand and tilted her head to the side. "It looks like it'll rain soon. Isn't that bad luck?"

"Nah, I'm sure we'll be fine," answered Usagi.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the Kumo shinobi said with a sneer. "May we never set eyes on one another again." Then the three of them turned and walked back where they came from. When they got to the other side, one of their comrades pulled a sword and decapitated one, then turned and sliced down the center of the other shinobi. Usagi and Karasu both made sounds of shock, when he disappeared, black scroll clutched in his hand.

Inu put a hand on Kuma's shoulder. "What did you do?" He demanded, tightening his grip on her shoulder.

"Followed my orders," she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. When she felt the aura Inu was emitting, she realized he was expressing one of the bad emotions again, but this time towards her. The emotion that cause lesser shinobi to react without thinking. He might kill her, but at least she had compleated her mission objective.

* * *

"And that's what happened," Kakashi finished his story, hands behind his back. He could tell that the Third was...well pissed. "I believe that Kuma passed on a code to the man, on behalf of Danzo."

"I should have him executed when I had the chance," he said, letting his hands go and placing them down on the desk. He took in a deep breath. "And what became of the scroll?" He asked.

"The infiltrator took it and ran after he'd already killed the other two." Kakashi fidgeted with a loose thread on his glove behind his back. "When I asked her what she had done, she simply said she'd 'compleated her mission.'"

"I ordered him to disband ROOT, I suppose I should have known better than to trust him at his word. How many children do you believe have fallen under his care."

"Sir, you can't blame yourself for his actions."

"The hell I can't," The Third snapped. "That child is a citizen of Konoha, and look at what that man has done to her. He allows her to associate with shinobi not in their organization. That means he trusts her and that by his standards she is well taken care of. You only spent two days with her, and you managed to spot something wrong. Imagine what else is beneath the surface."

"She was...like a doll," Kakashi explained, picturing the chid's mask. "A doll that Danzo was issuing orders too, even though he was back in the village. She never complained about being cold, tired, hungry. All she ate were food pills and water, even when presented with other food."

"It would be easier to help her, if we knew who she was. But I doubt there are records of her...Danzo would have taken or destroyed them."

"I...I can keep looking."

"Yes...but I also have another assignment for you." The Third managed a smile for Kakashi. "What do you think about being a Jonin instructor?"

* * *

She returned to base, and was ordered to kneel immediately. She did and Danzo-sama made his way into the debriefing room. He was holding a black scroll, and seemed to be exhibiting a good emotion. He was...pleased, she thought. Which meant that she had been successful down to every detail of her mission.

"This is twice now that you have succeded. Though, this mission was quite a bit easier than the first." He ran his fingers along the outside of the scroll. Was that greed then? "And the ninja who was returned to our village has brought with her many secrets from her captors. You are truly, an efficient tool, Shichi."

"Thank you, Danzo-sama," she said, not taking her eyes off the ground.

"You may return to your room and rest for the night. Then I expect you back in training tomorrow morning."

"As you command, Danzo-sama."

He chuckled, deep within his chest. Vibrations that se could feel under her fingertips. "Ah, if only your father would have addressed me so politely, I never would have needed you to exist in the first place."

"Was my father rude, Danzo-sama?" She asked.

"You should know better than to speak out of turn, Shichi," Danzo said, his amusement turning to annoyance. "You will be punished before you are permitted to rest. Ten lashes."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."


	6. The Tree and The Useless Apple

She was eleven years old, the first time she met her father. It wasn’t on purpose, at least not on her part. No, she knew better than to go against the wishes of her superiors. They hadn’t wanted her to meet him. They wanted to keep them apart, to keep her away from him influence. 

She was just finishing another assassination. His name...she couldn’t remember it. She’d been injured fairly badly. A Tachi to her side before the final blow could be dealt. Blood was running down her side, staining her cloak a dark crimson. She had tried healing herself, but the bleeding was too fast, and she didn’t have the Chakra reserves to fix the extensive damage. It seemed she would need to use the fire jutsu she’d been taught to ignite her own body. But she had finished her mission, so she supposed it was fine. She was forming the hand signs, eyes having a difficult time focusing,when a man stepped out from behind a tree.

She paused, blinking at him, not sure if he was real or not. He was as pale as the moon. A spirit of some kind? Had he come to take her to the next world? Had she not moved fast enough, and she’d died before she’d destroyed her body. What if enemies of the village found her body? Her heart quickened for just a moment. 

The man walked closer before lowering himself down in front of her. He tilted his head curiously to the side, black hair falling over his shoulder.

“Well then, it seems that you’ve landed yourself into a tight spot, haven’t you?” He asked, his voice smooth and dangerous. She knew in that moment that she knew him from somewhere, and it took her a moment to realize from where. He’d been a giant the last time they had seen one another. She’d been too small to even lift her own head. 

She opened her mouth to say something, but all that left her lips were short gasps, trying to pull the air in through teeth. Her head was swimming. If she wasn’t already dead, she would be soon. Leaving herself exposed to an enemy of the village. She started preforming the hand seals again, when his hand darted out and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling it roughly towards him. “Are you truly so ready to die?” He asked, a twisted smile stretching across his face. What emotion was that? 

“If I die here, then I am a useless tool. The least I can do is make sure enemies of Danzo-sama cannot use me against him.” Her mask was ripped at the back and when he lifted her from the ground by her arm, it fell off, falling in the dust. The night air blew across her sweaty face. She didn’t struggle, other then a small flinch when she felt the wound on her side get wider. 

“And you are content to simply die for the whims of another?” He asked. 

“I exist to be a tool for Danzo-sama.” 

He laughed lowly, before tossing her back into the dust. “If anything, you were created to be a tool for  _ my  _ use.” He looked into the trees. “Heal her,” he ordered. 

A young man walked out into the moon light, and gave her a charming smile. His silver hair and round glasses were enough of a giveaway, but even if it wasn’t, his face had remained the same since he was a young boy. “Kabuto-senpai,” she said, the words forming in her mouth before she could stop them. 

“Yes!” He said, cheerfully dropping to her side. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” He pushed her cloak out of the way, and cut her shirt open with a scalpel on the side, exposing her white skin to the open air. His hands glowed green, and he hovered them over her wounds. She could feel her skin stitching together. 

“Danzo-sama was angry that you betrayed him,” she said. 

“Yes, I guess he will be,” he laughed, his eyes crinkling, and he rubbed the back of his head, pulling some of his gray hair out of the hair tie that kept everything together. “But Orochimaru-sama, your father, helped me learn who I was. He could help you too.” 

“You are an ineffective tool,” she told Kabuto-senpai without any passion. “You should be eliminated.”

“She sounds like her mother,” Orochimaru said, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head. “I created you to be of use to me, child. I had hoped to take you home with me tonight.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “But I don’t think you’re quite ready for that. Return to your master, little girl. I will be coming to collect you soon.” 

She slumped against the tree and watched the two traitors head back into the woods. She pushed herself up to her knees. “Danzo-sama said that you are an exceptional shinobi,” she said, trying to keep steady. He stopped. “My goal was always to be just as exceptional.” 

“Then you’ve got a long road of training ahead of you, little one,” he said. He turned and looked at her again, his gaze lingering on her face for a few more seconds. The three of them stood silent and still, sizing each other up. Then the two of them disappeared, leaving her alone in the woods. 

She slowly pulled herself all the way up from the ground, and looked down at her shredded uniform. She’d never had to replace a uniform. before. Her superiors would want to know why her shirt had been shredded. Were they going to be angry that she’d met her father? It was obvious that they didn’t want her to know who he was. She should have performed the fire jutsu quicker. 

The blood was still fresh on her cloak. It would be easy to track her, she might lead someone to the base. So she left it and pulled the rest of her shirt off. She placed her mask back on her face and looked down at her discarded clothing. She moved through the hand signs fluidly and blew fire down onto them, setting them aflame. She groaned and slumped against a tree. That jutsu always took most of her chakra, and she was already low to begin with. It didn’t seem like it would have mattered if she was using it to end her life. 

Returning to the base was harder than it should have been. She was almost out of Chakra, so she had to run on the ground, darting between the shadows of the trees. She could sense the signatures of other creatures, but none seemed to be aware of her. 

“I hope you have a good explanation for this,” Danzo-sama said when he took his first look at her. 

“Danzo-sama, I compleated my mission. The target was eliminated. However, he cut me deeply on the side. I was bleeding to quickly and the wound was too deep for me to heal. I was about to eliminate myself when a man stopped me. He ordered his servant to heal me.” 

“And this man was…?” 

She opened her mouth, and for just one second, no sound came out. “My father, Danzo-sama,” she said quietly. “He said he’d come hoping to take me with him, but ultimately decided to leave me, he decided I was not satisfactory at this moment in time.” 

Danzo looked at her, his eye sharp. She thought the energy he was sending her way was the intent to kill. So yes then, he was angry that she had met her father without his permission. His hand tightened against his cain and he glared down at her, gritting his teeth. Anger. She understood when anger was directed towards her. 

“Twenty lashes!” He snapped at her, smacking his cain into the ground. “And you will not sleep until I personally give you permission to do so! You will sustain yourself with energy chakra pills.” 

“As you command, Danzo-sama,” she didn’t get up from her kneeling position until he dismissed her. He threw a book at her face, breaking her with a sick crack, but she didn’t reach up to stop the bleeding. It would just make him angrier at her. 

She wondered why he bothered to punish those in Root who graduated the ROOT training system. By then, they had prooved their loyalty by killing their training partner, just as she had. Not only that, they also didn’t express pain when they were beaten. Punishment was a silent affair. Was it just so Danzo-sama could express his displeasure? But, she knew better than to question the reason why Danzo-sama did something. 

This time, it was Kinoto who would be punishing her. He waited in the stone room and pointed at the wall with the whip. She placed her hands against the stone, spreading out her fingers. She realized suddenly that she hadn’t seen Kinoto since she was about five or six years old. The constant presence in her life just up and gone, and she hadn’t even noticed. He probably didn’t notice either. Those in Root, didn’t have connections or family. Why would she notice him being gone? 

The whip hurt, of course it did. Pain was the body telling you that something was wrong. But she knew better than to react. It wasn’t nearly as painful as it was the first time. Now this was just a process. When Kinoto was finished, there was blood rolling down her back, and forming a small puddle on the ground. 

“Dismissed,” Kinoto said. 

She bowed and quickly exited the punishment room. Now she needed to find a new shirt. 

Her room was sparsely furnished. A metal desk, a metal chair, her bed and a dresser. But she wasn’t allowed to use her bed, so after some healing and the replacement of her shirt, she sat down at the desk, and folded her hands in front of herself. There was no other work to be done, so she sat there, for the entire night. 

As it turned out, Ichi-senpai had survived. He was seventeen years old by that point. He was tall, lean, and cold. They passed each other in the hallway and stopped, looking at one another. He gave her a fake smile, something he’d been learning and trying to perfect. He wasn’t very good at it, thought. “Danzo-sama is sending me on a mission today. I’ve gotten a new code name. Sai.” 

“Strike well, Ichi…” she paused. That wasn’t right anymore. “Sai-senpai,” she said.

“Of course I will. How old are you now, Shichi-chan?” He asked. “You haven’t gotten any taller since the last time we saw each other.” 

“Twelve.” 

He hummed. Sai had been a strange one, even by their standards. She’d heard rumors that he still kept a picture book he’d been drawing for his training partner before their duel. It showed that Sai was still harboring emotion, but Danzo-sama wouldn’t listen to any of the superiors about Sai. He gave her one last curious glance, before continuing on his way. 

She continued down through the hall. She knocked on the grand office door and waited to be allowed in before opening the door, and closing it behind her. “How may I be of assistance, Danzo-sama.” 

He looked up from his book and closed it. “The time has come to proove yourself worthy, once more. To make up for your mistake a year ago.” 

“Yes, Danzo-sama,” she bowed her head, looking down at the floor. 

“And should you succeed, you will be permitted to sleep again.” He removed a file out of his desk and slid it over to the edge. She straightened her back and approached, picking it up. She undid the red string holding it closed. She pulled the paper out of the envelope and looked at the picture. 

Her fingers twitched when an angry face looked back at her. 

So that was Danzo-sama’s decision. She’d outlived her usefulness to him. An useless tool. Well, she would do as she was asked. There was no chance of success, but perhaps she could wound her target. 

“You will assassinate the fifth Hokage. Tsunade.” 

She bowed. “As you command, Danzo-sama.” 

She would fail. She was going to die. 

She smashed through the window when she was sure that the Hokage was alone. The blond woman didn’t even really react. She took a sip of Sake, and looked at Shichi with a blank stare that rivaled any Root member. 

“So... _ you’re  _ the assassin?” She asked. She snorted and downed the rest of her Sake. She stood up and cracked her knuckles and huffed. 

Shichi rushed the fifth Hokage, who seemed shocked for just a second. Before she lashed out with a powerful fist, that sent Shichi straight into the wall. Her mask hit the wall, and felt the porcelain shatter, cutting into her face. She pushed away from the wall, her limbs were trembling. She turned around and watched as Tsunade’s eyes widened, and heard her breath stop in her throat. 

“No...there’s no way,” she muttered. 

She launched herself at Tsunade again, pulling her tanto and cutting into the skin of the woman’s arm. Tsunade growled and grabbed her by the sleeve of her shirt and slammed her down onto her desk, cracking the desk in two. 

Shichi looked up at the angry woman’s eyes, her own vision swimming. Darkness was starting to creep into her eyes and she slipped away. It was the shortest fight she’d ever had. She’d lost, she was a  _ useless tool.  _

But she already knew that. 


	7. Tsunade’s Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel kind of meh about this chapter, but hey, it'll be leading into some more exciting territory soon.

Tsunade thought that it might have been smarter to have just had the girl executed. Her connection to both Danzo and Orochimaru made her a rather inconvenient threat.  _ And  _ the little shit had just tried to kill her. But she was still...just a child. She looked over the request, that her sensei had left for the person to take his place. She’d kept it in her desk since she’d taken office, just in case, and had dug it up after the little shit was carted out of her office. It was a request to save that girl. As a citizen of Konoha, the Third wanted her to be allowed to live her life as she wanted too. Not for someone else. Which was all well and good but _still._

The Fifth Hokage didn’t consider herself a particularly sentimental woman, but from the rudimentary scan that had already been returned on the girl who was now in ICU, she felt  _ disgusted  _ by what had been done to her body. Broken bones, bruises, whip markings, missing stips of skin on the inside of her thighs. Torture. On a little girl. Not that she was surprised that Danzo was capable of something so disgusting. Tsunade was sure that there were children under Danzo that had suffered much worse fates. This one was at least alive. 

Then there was the problem of her father. As idealistic as the third may have been, surly he would understand that the girl couldn’t be allowed to live without supervision. Her sperm donor- _ disgusting to even think about- _ would come for her at some point. There was no way that her existence was an accident on Orochimaru’s part. He didn’t  _ do  _ accidents. She was sure there would be no wide scale attack, but if he or one of his spies slipped into the village, the girl held compromising information about the village. There was no way Tsunade would allow that. 

She sighed, and swirled her sake in her cup. “Get me team Kakashi,” she ordered Shizune. The office window was still busted in, glass all over her floor. She needed the best on this mission, And she just had the gut feeling that Naruto would involve himself with that child anyways, if he ever even heard a whisper of her existence. 

“They haven’t returned from their mission to Tenshi Bridge yet, my lady,” Shizune said. 

_ Oh right.  _ They wouldn’t be back for another day or two at the soonest. “Kakashi was discharged from the hospital a week ago, wasn’t he?” Tsunade asked. 

“Yes, my lady.” 

“Then go get  _ him.  _ He’ll take the mission for them until they’re all together.” She tapped her fingers on the broken desk. “He can guard her while she’s in the hospital.” 

Shizune bowed politely before leaving the room, closing the door. It fell off its hinges. There was an indent on the wall where the child had smashed her face into it. Pieces of her bear mask scattered haphazardly around the office. Tsunade walked over and picked up the biggest one she could find. There was fresh blood on the inside of it. She’d cut her forehead pretty badly. 

Tsunade didn’t feel guilty for how badly she’d hurt the kid. She’d  _ spared her life,  _ which is more then the little shit should have expected. And she’d live. Nothing important had been broken or fractured. Four of her ribs and her shoulder had been broken when Tsunade had used her body to redecorate her desk. And her nose had broken when she’d hit the wall, but it seemed like her nose was already broken. All things that could be fixed with medical ninjutsu. She’d be fine, mostly just really bruised up. By the time Team Kakashi got back to the village, she’d be ready to leave the hospital. 

Tsunade thought that they should take her out of the village for awhile. She didn’t know what Danzo would do when he realized that his assassin had failed. More assassins maybe? She thought she’d order them to take the little shit to a hot spring or something. The little shit sure as fuck needed to  _ relax _ . 

She huffed and rubbed her temples. They’d need to make an official file on the little shit. She technically didn’t exist. Because if she did, Tsunade was sure that she would have heard about her old teammate’s spawn. She’d have to tell Jiraiya at some point. He might be in favor of skewering the little shit. The sins of the father and all that. She’d tell him when she was already out of the village. 

There was a knock on her door about three hours later, when most of her office had already been cleaned up by her two Chunin helpers. “Come in Kakashi,” she said, settling her arms on top of the temporary desk. 

He opened the door, and she noticed that he still seemed a little green around the gills, but he was upright. “I was told you have a mission for me, lady Tsunade?” He asked, lazily meandering into the room. He looked around, and noticed all the little signs that something bad had just happened there. “Uh…” 

“Do you recognize this mask?” Tsunade asked, holding up the mask that she had tapped together. She saw his eye widen slightly and watched him nodded stiffly. “Well this girl just tried to murder me here in my office. And I’m sure that it was under Danzo’s orders.” 

“And what happened to the girl?” Kakashi asked a bit too casually. 

“I kicked the shit out of her. She’s in the ICU being healed right now.” Tsunade put the mask down and held up a letter that had been written by the third. “ _ It is my hope, that should this girl make another appearance, that she can be rescued,”  _ she read. “I have decided to assign team Kakashi this mission. And you, specifically, will be guarding her while she’s in the hospital. Then I want you all to leave the village with her, until a full file can be made on her.” 

“Yes, lady Tsunade,” he answered. 

“There’s another thing…” she paused and pressed her lips together. “I believe...that she may be the child of my old teammate.” 

It only took Kakashi a second to realize that she didn’t mean Jiraiya. “And you want me to keep that part quite?” 

“Yes. Tell your team they aren’t to disclose that to anyone else either.” 

“What rank is this mission?” Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Well...this mission does not exist. You and your team are just taking a bit of leave from duty. But should a sizable check find its way into your mailbox, that can’t be helped, can it?” She gestured towards the door. “Now, go to your post. You aren’t to leave her side.” 

“Yes ma’am,” he said before disappearing. 

_ To whom it may concern. I hope that I may be writing this letter to my students in some form. I have born witness to something truly disturbing. It appears that Root is still in full operation, and one of its victims is a very young child of seven years. An emotionless shell of a human being. Her leash is held so tightly by Danzo that she can’t even bring herself to disobey his orders even when they directly harm her. AMBU is no place for a child to begin with, but Root especially.  _

_ It is my hope, that should this girl make another appearance, that she can be rescued. Do not allow Danzo to kill her soul. If we cannot even save a single citizen of Konoha, then we have no right to rule over them. It is my final wish that this child be given the chance to live a life that is filled with hopes, dreams, and passions. Unhook her chain to Danzo.  _

_ -Hiruzen Sarutobi  _

Tsunade huffed again. That little shit had broken her last bottle of sake. With her head. __

* * *

With Tsunade pointing it out, he could see the resemblance to the snake Sanin. She was colored like her father was, though her skin was a bit of a warmer tone. But she must have taken more after her mother. Her face was soft, round and delicate. He cheeks were a bit pudgy, and he had to resist the urge to pinch them, like he would have done to any of his students. She was also very small. The girl had to have been about twelve by that point, but she looked more like she was ten. Her hair was shorter than her father's, and looked as if someone had hacked it off with a kunai. It framed her face, making it look as if she was hiding behind her long bangs. 

There were dark circles under her eyes, and her medical report said that she had been sleep deprived to the point where they worried she might actually die from that, rather than the sizable beating the Hokage had visited upon her body. 

Her eyes were actually fairly unnerving. They were colored like her father’s though she had round pupils. But they were blank, muted, empty. _She_ was empty. She observed him dispassionately. He could pull out a knife and slit her throat and he was sure that she wouldn’t even blink. 

He sat beside her bed, reading the latest Icha Icha. The two of them didn’t say anything for quite awhile. Hours. A nurse walked in, a sweet looking young lady with red hair. “It’s time for another nap,” she told her patient. 

“I cannot,” the girl said. 

The nurse looked over to Kakashi, and smiled sadly. She walked closer and place a gentle hand against the child’s shoulder. “Will you just pretend then, like last time?” She asked. 

“Yes.” The girl laid back and looked up at the roof. 

“Why won’t she sleep?” Kakashi asked the nurse. 

“She said she was ordered not to sleep, until she was directly told otherwise by her superiors.” She pulled the covers up to the girl’s chin. “If you can get her to sleep, please do.” 

Kakashi hummed and stood up, and leaned over the girl, pulling his headband up, opening his Sharingan wide. She looked at him for a moment before passing out. “There, she’ll be out for a few hours at the least. Maybe the entire night.” 

The nurse sighed and thanked him profusely. “We’ve been trying all day. We wanted to avoid giving her drugs. They might have interfered with her nutrient drip.” She checked over the IV. “It seems that she’s been living off of food pills for at least the past three years.” 

“What’s her name?” Kakashi asked. 

“She ‘identified herself’ by a number, not a name. She said codenames weren’t for her.” The nurse sighed and wrote a few things down on the clipboard. “Shichi.” 

“Oh,” Kakashi said, sitting back down. “I have orders from lady Tsunade not to leave her side. So I’ll be staying here overnight.” 

“Very well, Hatake-san,” the nurse said. She made her exit, closing the door behind her quietly. 

Kakashi kept his eyes on his book, but he kept his feelers out. He could feel that someone was watching the girl. Waiting for him to move or fall asleep to strike. Maybe he was one of Root’s agents. No...he was  _ definitely  _ one of Root’s agents. He’d need to report that to Tsunade. But he couldn’t leave the child’s side. So he’d sit still until he had someone to relieve him. He resigned himself to settling in for at least a few days. 

He closed his book and watched her. She didn’t even look relaxed when she was asleep. She really did look pitiful. Kakashi hummed and went back to his book. It was hard to focus, for whatever reason. It was the kid’s fault, he was sure. So he started over back at the beginning.


	8. A Meeting

A useless tool that couldn’t even fallow a simple order. Oh how far she’d fallen. She blinked awake in the moonlight. She’d fallen asleep. She wasn’t allowed to do that until Danzo directly said she could. It had happened when she’d looked into her guard’s eye. The red one, it’d hypnotized her. 

The seal on her tongue itched. It might have just been psychosomatic, but it almost seemed like Danzo-sama was sending her his displeasure through it. He was going to be so angry with her when she returned to him. She looked over at her alert guard, even though he wasn’t looking at her. 

She remembered him, though she couldn’t remember his name. They’d gone on a mission together, years ago. She wondered if he remembered her. She was tempted to ask but didn’t want to talk out of turn. Maybe this man was one of Danzo-sama’s? Maybe he was there to take her back to him. Well, it would be much more convenient if he would just do it instead of wasting his time reading that book. 

“When are we going back?” She finally asked. 

He looked up from his book, a momentary look of confusion on his face. “You mean back to Danzo?” He asked. She nodded. “No, you’re not going back there.” 

“Oh...I see,” she said. “Is he displeased with my failure?” 

“Probably,” the man said with a shrug. “Lady Tsunade has ordered me to protect you from him. You have nothing to worry about.” 

“But...I must return to Danzo-sama. He is already angry with my performance. Delaying my return will just upset him more.” 

“You’re not going back there, kiddo,” the man said, giving her an even look. “You’re staying right here in the light of day.” 

“But-” 

“No buts!” He said holding up his hand. She turned her gaze away and looked at the small wardrobe on the other side of the room. It just had more hospital gowns. He closed his book, slipping it into his weapon’s pouch on his leg. “I know you don’t understand it yet, but we’re keeping you safe. We’ll protect you.” He placed his hand on the top of her hair and rubbed her head. 

Why was he doing that? It wasn’t unpleasant. I reminded her of when Kinoto would tell her she’d done a good job. But that was a very long time ago. Back when she still felt. Would Kinoto be disappointed with her? No...he couldn’t feel disappointment any more than she could. But maybe he’d volunteer to kill her if Danzo-sama ordered her death. For whatever reason, that idea made her sweat a bit. She didn’t think that she could beat him in a one on one fight if it came down to it. But if Danzo-sama wanted her to die, then who was she to deny him that. So why wasn’t this masked man taking her back to him to face her punishment for failing? Why wasn’t Kinoto? 

She saw no further point in pressing the man if his answer would be the same. And he’d also ordered her to be quiet. And she’d said  _ but.  _ She wasn’t sure if that word had ever come out of her mouth before, not to a superior. So she kept her head bowed and stayed quiet just as she had been told. She was usually good at that, doing what she was told. 

“Are you hungry?” He asked. “I can signal for the nurse to bring you something to eat.” 

Hungry? When was the last time she’d felt hunger? She shook her head. She didn’t need any more food pills for at least a few days. The regular cycle of sustenance was four pills every three days. But she could benefit from some water. Would he be angry if she voiced that? 

“Alright then,” he said. “Maybe you should sleep for a few more hours,” he suggested standing up from his chair. 

“No,” she said, then covered her mouth. She lowered her hands back to the blanket and wrapped a loose thread around her finger. “I have been ordered not to sleep unless given express permission from Danzo-sama.” 

He looked at her and shook his head. He pressed his pointer and middle finger to her forehead and gently pressed her back down onto the bed. He pulled the blanket up to her chin and fluffed up her pillow. He placed his fingers on her eyelids and slid them closed. “Go to sleep.” 

And it was an order. A  _ tempting  _ order, at that. 

She slept for fifteen hours and didn’t show any signs of waking up anytime soon. Kakashi really had to take a piss. So when Sakura and Naruto walked in the door, the first thing he did was order them not to take their eyes off the kid. Not even for a  _ second.  _ When he was finished, he found the two of them looking down at the girl like a set of gargoyles, while a pale stranger sat in  _ his  _ chair, and a very familiar man tried to casually look out the window. 

_ Seriously?  _

“And you are?” Kakashi asked the pale boy. 

He gave Kakashi a bullshit fake smile and stood up, bowing at the waist. “I’m Sai,” he said. “I’m the new member of Team Kakashi.” 

“Well that’s news to me,” Kakashi said, trying not to snort in the kid’s face. 

“Very new.” He looked over to Naruto who gave him that sunburst smile and he took a deep breath. “I worked with Naruto, Sakura, and Captain Yamato at the Tenshi bridge. It’s...a pleasure to meet you?” He looked at Naruto who nodded enthusiastically.

This must be  _ Danzo’s  _ man. But he didn’t look like an emotionless husk of a human being. Well,  _ kind of  _ but not  _ really.  _ Kakashi would have to talk with Tenzo as soon as possible. He gave his ex-subordinate a look and the man nodded subtly. 

“So who is this girl, anyway?” Sakura asked, looking at the child’s pale features. “She kind of looks like…” 

Naruto was glaring suspiciously at the girl, eyes narrowed and lips pressed tightly together. 

Sakura and Kakashi shared a look, both exasperated. “Yes…” Kakashi said. “But that’s not important right now. What  _ is  _ important is that we’ll be taking her out of the village tonight. Lady Tsunade has given team Kakashi a new mission.” 

“Why are we taking her out of the village?” Sakura asked. 

“Because if she returns to Danzo-sama….he’ll have her killed,” The new kid said. He looked over at the girl, the emotionless mask falling into place for a moment before he cleared it with a deep sigh, looking over to Naruto again. “I can’t tell you everything but...it may or may not have something to do with her father.” 

“Why can’t you tell us?” Kakashi asked casually. 

“Because Danzo placed a seal on his tongue, that prevents him from telling us a lot about his organization,” Tenzo pipped up. He looked over at the girl. “And I assume she...worked with you?” He asked. 

“Yes, we were-” Sai cut himself off and bit his tongue. “Yes.” 

“So where are we taking her?” Sakura asked, picking up the girl’s medical chart. She frowned, deeply troubled by what she was reading. “She is in no condition to travel.” 

“Maybe not far. Lady Tsunade told me that this mission doesn’t technically exist. We’ll be taking a vigilant vacation. And it just so happens she’ll be coming with us.” 

“A vacation where?” Naruto asked. 

* * *

She was awake now and traveling on the back of the orange-clad shinobi who had been leaning over her when she’d blinked her eyes open. It was his turn now, and she quickly found that he wasn’t one used to carrying someone on their back. He jostled her around a lot, keeping his hands under her knees, and bobbing around like someone was hot on his trail. 

She looked over at Ichi-senpai, who’d been acting strange around her. His smile was different. Less cold. Danzo-sama would be disappointed. She’d even caught him reading a book about emotions earlier while they were all taking a break. He explained to her that he wanted to learn more about the bonds that people shared. He wanted to remember what feeling was like. What a strange young man. 

Her adult minders were the worst of the group. She could constantly feel them watching her, eyes burning into the back of her skull. An enemy that hadn’t yet identified itself. Their grips would always be a little firmer when they held her on their backs. Grips strong enough where she couldn’t get away if it turned into a fight. They could easily reach up and snap her neck. Or throw her to the ground and break her spine. 

Then there was Sakura. If she felt anyway towards any of them, the pink-haired girl would be her ‘favorite.’ She talked quietly to Shichi, and when giving her medical examinations, her hands were always warm. She also carried Shichi more carefully than any of the boys did. In the three days it took them to travel to their new location, if Shichi was given a choice, she’d always ask to be carried by Sakura. 

They touched down in the middle of a slow hot spring. There weren’t any other guests there, which someone had to have arranged beforehand. Kakashi put a hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her forward. “We better get checked into our rooms,” he said, closing his visible eye, which Shichi learned meant he was smiling. 

She was rooming with Sakura. The pink-haired woman went down to the hot spring with her teammates, and Shichi was dragged along with her. She wasn’t allowed to be alone, not for any reason. Sakura paused for a second when she saw the scars on her, but acted as if they didn’t bother her, but even Shichi was able to tell that they did. The young woman washed her hair, running her fingers through Shichi’s matted locks. 

When it was untangled, it hung lower on the left side than it did on the right. Shichi wound a strand of her black hair around her fingers. It was practical. 

“How about I even it out for you?” Sakura suggested, smiling sweetly at her.

Shichi shrugged. Why would she care? 

_ “HEY!”  _ They heard Naruto yell from the male side of the hot spring. Shichi winced, the loud voice hurt her ears. 

“Would you like me to take you back to our room?” Sakura asked. She frowned when Shichi just shrugged again. 

The young girl walked over to the divider and tapped on the wood. “Ichi-senpai,” she called, her voice  _ just  _ above a whisper. She heard the water shift and could feel Ichi’s chakra. “Are you returning to Danzo-sama soon?” She asked. 

He was quiet, and Shichi could hear whispering between Yamato, Naruto, and Ichi. “No, Shichi. We won’t be going back to Danzo-sama,” he finally told her. 

She pushed away from the wall and looked back at Sakura who was looking at her with something akin to what must have been distress. “Why won’t you let me go back?” Shichi asked, wondering if she’d be punished for talking out of turn. “I have to go back. Danzo-sama is already displeased with me. I need to go back!” 

She covered her mouth with her left hand when she realized that her voice had risen above what was acceptable. She lowered her hand and stood rigidly in front of Sakura, waiting for the strike to come. 

But there was no pain. Instead, the pink-haired woman pulled her close against her own body. Shichi looked up at her, the action truly catching her off guard, and confusing her just as much. “Would you like to go back to our room?” Sakara asked again. 

“Yes,” Shichi said shortly. 

* * *

“So…” Naruto tapped his hands against his knees at dinner. Sakura and the weird girl weren’t joining them. “Is that kid normally how your friends turn out?” He asked Sai. 

“Yes and no,” he answered, testing out each word before he said it. “We were in the same class. She was a model student.” He paused for a second. “Or at least she learned to be.” 

“What do you mean, Sai?” Kakashi asked. 

“She was a-.” He choked on his own words, before starting over. “She’s left-handed.” 

“And that made her a bad student?” Kakashi pressed, raising his visible eyebrow. “Because she wrote with her left hand?” 

“Yes.” Sai nodded, opened his mouth to add more, but nothing came out. “She was different,” he settled on, eventually. 

Kakashi hummed, understanding in an instant what Sai was implying. Naruto, on the other hand, was just as confused as ever. He looked between the adults and Sai who were all sharing an intense look, hands folded. Naruto could see the stress around Yamato- taichou’s eyes. 

He thought it was kind of dumb that they were all freaking out so much about a kid. She was itsy bitsy. If she was causing trouble, they could just sit on her back and keep her trapped. But behind her creepy emotionless mask still laid a little girl, right? They’d all heard what she’d said in the hot spring to Sakura. She didn’t get that Danzo was bad news yet. So they just had to teach her. 

Like they taught Sai the importance of forming bonds. Maybe Sai and the weird kid would form a bond? They were classmates, and she called him senpai. 

Naruto grabbed another plate and started filling it up with food. Everything that looked good. (And even stuff that didn’t-like broccoli-because kids should eat that stuff or she’d be short forever.) He grumbled something unintelligible when Kakashi asked what he was doing.


	9. A Very Gusty Ninja

He peeked into the girl's room and frowned at what he saw. The girl was curled up in the window seat of the room, looking blankly into the hills. Sakura was watching her, chin propped up by the palm of her hand, resting her elbow on her knee. She looked bored out of her mind. 

“Hey,” he said, causing both of them to snap their eyes over to him. “Sakura, you should go get something to eat,” he said. 

Sakura slid off the bed she was sitting on and stretched her arms above her head. She walked closer to Naruto. “Don’t take your eyes off of her, don’t forget your mission.” Naruto nodded. She looked down at the plate of food that Naruto was holding. “Is that yours or hers?” She asked. “Naruto, that food is too rich for her. It’ll make her sick.” She grabbed the miso soup off the plate, and put it on the coffee table, before heading off with the rest of the food. 

When she was gone, he and the girl sized each other up. Naruto came over to her and handed the soup into her hands. “Eat it,” he ordered when she didn’t make any move to take a sip. She lifted it to her face and drank about half of it before setting it down beside her, and looking back out the window. 

“So what do you think of the hot springs?” Naruto asked, sitting across from her on the bed. 

“It’s an easily defensible position. Should we be attacked, they’d have to search for us through the mountains. And we’d see them coming long before they saw us coming.” She nodded vaguely. “It’s a strategic location.” 

Naruto’s left eye twitched. “Right, but I meant like...do you think it’s pretty? Or too hot? Or do you like the hotel?” He asked. 

“I don’t feel one way or the other about it,” she said. 

Naruto snorted. “You and Sai are pretty alike, you know that?” Her eyes looked over at him, and she blinked slowly. “Or you used to be, anyways. But Sai is getting better. Don’t you want to get better too?” He asked. 

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she answered. 

“Well that’s not even a  _ little bit  _ true,” Naruto told her. “You’re acting all creepy like Sai did at first. But here’s the thing, kiddo, people all have feelings, even if they bury them so deep they’re sure they’re dead. They’re inside you, and we’re going to find them.” Naruto grinned boldly and grabbed a piece of stationary, writing ‘be back soon’ on it and posting it to the window. “Come on.” 

Truth be told, Naruto didn’t know much about what girls liked. He thought maybe seeing some cute woodland animals, the kid would smile at least a little bit. But after the cutest, fluffiest, little rabbit crossed their path, and she almost cooked it, he decided maybe that wasn’t the greatest idea. So they sat down at a pond’s edge, looking at wildflowers. Didn’t girls like making little hats out of them? 

But her face didn’t even twitch. Naruto plucked a dandelion out of the ground and held it out to her. “Make a wish,” he said. She blinked at him. “Blow on it and make a wish. If you don’t tell anyone what it is, it’ll come true.” 

“What’s the point of that?” She asked. It was kind of hard to be creeped out by her when he saw how cute she was up close. Like a baby owl. Like super fluffy. Or maybe a baby chicken would be more accurate when he looked at her super serious face. 

“For fun,” he told her, pushing the flower a little closer to her face. Her face stayed stone-like and Naruto blew the white fuzz in her face. She sneezed. That was kind of cute. “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her. She ignored it and stood up on her own. 

They were pretty far from the resort, so they walked in silence. He noticed while they walked, that she kept looking up. “Do you like the clouds?” He asked. 

“Not particularly,” she said. “The sun...it’s...warm?” She seemed confused by that, her face scrunching up. “I haven’t seen the sun very often. This will be the fourth time. No...the fifth.” 

“Eh? What do you mean?” He asked. 

“I mostly operated in the night. I didn’t get to see the sun very often.” 

Naruto didn’t want to touch that with a fifteen-foot pole. Wasn’t that super fucked up? Her face was still blank, but there was something less chilly about her eyes when she squinted up at the sun. He put his hand on her back and pushed her forward. Did that mean she liked the sun? Weird, but a step in the right direction. So then, maybe they should take her to the beach? That was a sunny place. And the kid sure as shit needed a tan. Her grayish-white skin reminded him too much of her…(nasty) dad. 

Sometimes he forgot. It was really easy when she wasn’t looking directly at him. Then she looked at him with wide yellow eyes and he remembered again. Sakura said that they weren’t supposed to talk about it. Not around other people, anyways. Because it might be bad if they were found out, or something like that. Which he guessed he understood. Orochimaru was the  _ worst  _ and people might blame the kid for what he did. 

He felt her stiffen next to him and look in the trees. It took a second, but he felt the person in the trees just a millisecond before he attacked. Naruto grabbed the kid around the middle and jumped out of the way of kunai bound with exploding tags. He set her down and pushed her behind him. The man jumped from the trees, a mask hiding his features. 

“Traitor,” he said, voice hollow. “Accept your fate.” 

Naruto felt the girl’s hands tighten around his arm, and heard the air catch in her throat. Naruto grabbed his weapon and held it in a defensive position. Holding his other arm out and blocking her. “Get out of her, kiddo, go get Kakashi-sensei and Yamato- taichou.” 

“But-” 

“That’s an order,” he snapped. She pushed away from him and ran into the trees. The man tried to give chase, but Naruto blocked his path, taking a swing at his throat. Something told Naruto instinctively that this was a kill or be killed situation. And hadn’t Kakashi-sensei said that people were coming to kill the kid? That was why they were at the resort in the first place. 

“This is none of your concern. Step aside,” the man said, his chilly voice mirroring the kid. But his was deeper, older, more practiced. 

“Over my dead body,” Naruto growled, rushing the man again, managing to get in a hit, cracking his mask a bit. Pieces were falling away, before it crumbled away, revealing a man in his mid-thirties, with frozen brown eyes, gray skin, and dark blue hair. He looked sick. But when he flexed his shoulders, his muscles rippling down his arms, Naruto realized that this man was in peak performance. 

“As you wish,” he said. And he rushed Naruto so fast that he almost missed the man. He managed to block with his knee and kicked the man in the chin. The force of the kick sent both of them back, bashing into the ground, and rolled back onto their feet. He hit hard, hard enough that Naruto could feel his bones and muscles shifting under his powerful fists. 

An uppercut sent Naruto flying through the air and a kick to his chest toppled over a nearby tree. He laid in the dirt and put his hand against his chest. Some of his ribs had to be broken. The man looked down at him, before turning towards the trees and jumping onto a nearby branch. 

The kid couldn’t have gotten to safety by then, it had only been like fifteen seconds. Naruto let out a growl, forming the hand signs, and twenty or so clones of him appeared, all leaping at the man, throwing punches and kicks that were easily dodged, while Naruto was away from the group, forming his Rasengan. 

But this, too, was evaded, leaving a sizable hole in a tree, that eventually brought it crashing down into the dust. 

Her throat hurt. Right above her chest. Her heart was beating in her stomach, as her mind raced. It was Kinoto, she’d suspected that it might be him. She jumped through the trees, listening to the fighting that was happening, getting further and further away the closer she got to the resort. There was a loud explosion, that almost sent her tumbling off her feet and into the ground below. 

When she pushed through the final line of trees, she saw the other shinobi were already running out the door, weapons drawn. “We were attacked,” were the first words out of her mouth when she landed in front of them. 

“Who attacked you, where’s Naruto?” Kakashi asked. 

“My old caretaker, Kinoto. Naruto is four miles behind me, engaging with the attacker.” She crossed her arms behind her back. “How should we respond?” She asked. 

“Sakura, stay with her,” Kakashi said. “Sai, Yamato, with me!” The three boys jumped into the trees, leaving Sakura and her alone. 

The pink-haired girl moved closer to the child, who looked at her cooly. “We should go with them,” she said. 

“We’re staying here,” Sakura said sternly. “Where it’s safe.” 

Shichi opened her mouth and snapped it closed, looking down at her feet. She’d just tried to argue. The pink-haired woman would have seen the twitch of her lip. She would know what Shichi was thinking. Would there be a beating? Sleep deprivation again? 

Shichi realized that this might be all part of a test, by Danzo-sama, after she failed to kill Tsunade. And she must have failed. She hadn’t been told she could sleep or eat, and yet she did so. But it was under orders. What was the test? What was the goal? How did she please her superiors? 

She shifted from foot to foot. Kinoto was who had been put over her within ROOT, and Ichi-senpai was the only one of these people who she recognized. So maybe the test was to follow the orders of her true superiors, and Ichi-senpai was there to watch her. And this was her chance to redeem herself to Danzo-sama, but she was failing because she wasn’t following Kinoto’s orders. 

She turned and jumped into the trees, ignoring Sakura, who called her back. She heard the woman giving chase, but wasn’t particularly worried. Shichi knew she was faster. But the question was, would she be faster than the other shinobi, who would no doubt be trying to stop her. Maybe she could avoid them? Take a less direct path. 

“Get back here!” Sakura yelled, punching the tree Shichi stood upon, cracking it in two. She twisted mid-fall and grabbed a branch, throwing herself back into the foliage. With every leap, she got further and further from Sakura, and the more distance, the better, from the sound of the falling trees. 

Kinoto was a marvel. He stood against Naruto, Ichi-senpai, Kakashi, and Yamato, but still didn’t look as if he was having any trouble. His sword had blood dripping from it, and a look at Ichi-senpai explained why. “You are a traitor as well,” his voice said, directed to the pale young man. “I will be sure to bring your head back to Danzo-sama, as well as the girl’s.” 

“Why are you after her?!” Naruto yelled, hands balled into fists, blue eyes glowing with anger. “She’s just a little kid!” 

“She is a tool, for the betterment of the village. She is part of the machine, she is not a human. She is nothing.” 

Naruto growled, a blue orb of chakra spinning violently in his hand, as he leaped at Kinoto, slamming his hand into his side, sending him flying. Shichi gasped quietly and lept from the trees, landing in a crouch, drawing attention away from the fight. 

“There you are,” Kinoto muttered, coughing up blood, kneeing Naruto in the stomach, and passing him back to his team. Kinoto disappeared and reappeared in front of Shichi, looking into her eyes. “I raised you. You were going to be different. Traded to us by Orochimaru for his freedom. Traitor, how dare you not die? How dare you speak to Orochimaru without Danzo-sama’s permission.” 

She took a step back, something in her chest that ignited and died in the same moment. Kinoto raised his sword and swung it down at her. A loud, angry, scream erupted from behind her, as a blur of pink whipped past her, taking Kinoto and his sword with. He rolled in the grass and didn’t look as if he’d be standing back up at anytime soon. 

Sakura stood over him, cracking her knuckles. “Not on my watch,” she growled. She grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, getting ready to punch him again. Maybe to end him for good. 

“Wait!” Shichi stepped forward and covered her mouth when she realized what she said. She let her hands fall to her sides. “Kinoto is an exceptional shinobi, who is following Danzo-sama’s orders. He will be most displeased if you killed him.” 

The five members of Team Kakashi shared a look, a silent debate happening between them. “Naruto, Sakura, Sai,” Kakashi said, taking a step forward. “Take her back to the resort.” 

The three teenagers nodded, and Ichi-senpai lifted her, so she couldn’t run away. They were silent as the grave, jumping through the trees. They returned to the resort and when she was set down, she tried jumping back towards the fight, but Naruto grabbed her around the middle and hauled her back to the room she was sharing with Sakura. “Sit!” He ordered. 

Shichi pulled her legs up to her chest and leveled the blond with a blank look, letting herself slip back into her acceptable state of mind. Something like emotion had pushed its way through her throat earlier. Useless. Foolish. Presumptuous tool. She would need to end herself. But Ichi-senpai saw her forming the hand seals and rushed her, grabbing her arms and pulling them apart. The other two looked confused, watching the two of them wrestling. “Enough,” Ichi said calmly. “That’s enough. Calm down.” 

“Kinoto...he was correct. I must be punished for my disobedience.” 

Ichi-senpai sighed, and kept her hands apart, and rested his chin on the top of her head. “I have no idea how to handle this.” 

“Truth is, Sai, I don’t think any of us do,” Sakura said, sitting on Shichi’s other side, and grabbing her hand. She reached up and gently ran her fingers across Shichi’s cheek, and pressed their foreheads together. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore,” she said. “ _ If,  _ you’re afraid. You aren’t a tool. You’re a person, and it’s okay to feel, to  _ want.  _ It means you’re alive.” 

“You’re wrong,” Shichi said, voice wavering for just a moment. 

“She isn’t,” Naruto said, taking her other hand. “You’re alive. You are safe with us. You aren’t a tool. What is it that you want?” Naruto asked, pulling away. 

And this... _ sun  _ couldn’t understand the weight of the question he asked her. Asking her,  _ tempting,  _ her to disobey everything she’d been taught since she was too small to walk on her own. Asking her to separate herself from the hivemind of Danzo-sama’s will. To exert her own will on the world around her. 

He would never understand, why she was almost unable to breathe, the weight of everything falling on her chest, crushing her. He would never understand when she finally broke, how his hand was like an anchor in a storm that would surely kill her if she let go for even just a moment. None of them could understand that. 

And Naruto would never understand why her hand tightened in his grip, almost crushing his fingers. “Kinoto,” she said, her voice breaking, thick tears rolling down her face, she leaned forward, still unable to break free of the six arms that held her in an inescapable prison of the emotions she had never quite been able to kill. “ _ I want Kinoto _ .” 


End file.
